File image.
The Russian military has captured the city of Kupyansk in Kharkiv and the battles in the cities of Krasny Liman and Siversk in Donetsk have begun to pick up momentum.
Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov announced the capture of Kupyansk during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a military command post late on November 20.
He said that the city is now under full control, while Putin reviewed the broader battlefield situation and praised the performance of Russian troops.
“Formations of the West grouping have liberated the city of Kupyansk,” Gerasimov said, noting the Kiev forces were being destroyed on the left bank of the Oskil River and that the conditions had been prepared for them to surrender.
From his side, Putin praised the performance of the Russian military, in particular the Zapad [West] Group of Forces], revealing that approximately 15 battalions of Kiev forces were surrounded in and around Kupyansk.
Gerasimov also stated during the meeting that many Ukrainian soldiers are ready to surrender but face threats from their own command.
“Most of them, under threat of being shot or destroyed by drones, cannot accomplish this task on their own,” he said, claiming that Kiev had issued no orders regarding surrender.
Ukraine later rejected reports of encirclement close to Kupyansk and dismissed the announcement by Gerasimov as inflated.
“Kupyansk is under the control of Ukraine’s defense forces,” Ukraine’s General Staff said, while also denying any major setbacks in Volchansk, to the north in Kharkiv, and Krasnoarmeysk, more known as Pokrovsk, in Donetsk.
However, the Russian Ministry of Defense released on November 21 a video showing its fighters raising the Russian flag in several parts of Kupyansk. The footage also included a series of recent strikes that targeted Kiev forces in the city.
The defeat in Kupyansk was a blow to Ukraine, but what is coming next appears to be even way worse. The Russian military is one step away from winning the battles in Volchansk and Pokrovsk, and has already stepped up operations in other directions.
On November 21, the defenses of Kiev forces began to collapse all around the city of Krasny Liman in Donetsk. The Russian MoD said in its daily briefing the the Zapad Group of Forces captured Novoselovka to the north of Krasny Liman, and Stavki to the north east of the city, as well as Maslyakovka, which is located in the southeastern outskirts of the city, and Yampol, a few kilometers to the south.
Within the city itself, the situation of Ukrainian defenses is not any better. Russian troops are reported to be making steady advances from the southeastern part of the city towards Vulytsya Svobody street. The troops are facing resistance, however.
Things are even worse for Kiev forces in the city of Siversk, further to the south in Donetsk. The Yug [South] Group of Forces are already in control over much of the city’s eastern and southern part. Pockets of resistance are still there, but with the only road leading to Krasny Liman severed, Ukrainian troops are doomed.
Even to the south of the city, Russian troops are reported to be expanding their control rapidly. Most of Zvanivka have been captured.
The Russian victory in Kupyansk and the ongoing battles in both Krasny Liman and Siversk all indicate that Ukraine is well on its way towards a strategic defeat. Kiev is also heading towards a real catastrophe in Pokrovsk and a complete collapse around the city of Huliapole in Zaporozhye.
The lack of any strategic planning on the higher levels in Kiev, as well as the complete disregard of the lives of Ukrainian troops are the main reasons behind this failure. It is likely too late to fix anything in Ukraine, and for those in Kiev the best option on the table now may be peace.
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the bbc, mournfully announced that zeldnskys open to trump’s peace plans .course there’s the 350 billion dollars ” missing ” that zelensky is needing to explain ,and the bbc are looking at a 1.5 billlion court case ,guaranteed victory for trump since the evidence is undeniable .so there’s plenty entry of negotiating points on the tableu .isn’t there .